Bound by Blood Box Set

by Lane Hart

  Around quitting time Doris interrupted one of the more erotic fantasies with Kate that I’d gone into.

  “Hey, Sam? Today must be your lucky day. There’s a beautiful girl waiting out by your car.”

  I blinked at her a few times trying to get back to reality and figure out what she had just said.

  “Or is she the reason you were late this week, called in sick yesterday, and have been smiling like a fool all day?”

  “That would be her,” I said with a goofy grin. I logged out of my computer and jumped up to leave.

  Doris walked out with me, probably because she wanted to be nosy. When we got to my car Kate came around from the driver side and smiled.

  “Hi,” she said shyly as she looked from me to Doris.

  “Hey, Kate. This is my boss, Doris. Doris, this is my girlfriend, Kate,” I said as I smiled at her.

  “Hey, it’s nice to meet you,” Kate said as she blushed.

  “So you’re the reason Sam missed work this week,” Doris said. “You two are cute together. I always thought Sam was gay, not that it matters. Nice to meet you Kate. Sam, try to make it in on time Monday.”

  My mouth was still hanging open. How could she think I was gay!

  Kate laughed when Doris left. “At least you knew I was straight,” I said as I kissed her. “So, did you just come by because you missed me, or is something up?” I asked, getting a little concerned. She hadn’t texted me since this morning either.

  “Well, my dad called me this morning. He calls me about every day to check on me but this morning he said he was on his way to see me,” she looked worried.

  “Did he say why?” I asked nervously.

  “No, and he didn’t sound right. Anyway, he’ll probably be here in a few hours so I wanted to let you know before you came over.”

  “Oh, okay. So will you call me when he leaves?” I asked. This was going to suck. No telling how long he was planning on being here. Not seeing Kate for one day was too long.

  “I’m worried he’ll start looking at my phone records, so how about I just come by your place when he heads back?” I could tell she was more worried than she was letting on.

  “Okay. I’ll be anxiously waiting for you,” I said with a smile as I gave her a hug and kiss bye.

  “I’ll miss you,” she said.

  “I’ll miss you too. I love you,” I told her before I let her go.

  “I love you too,” she said with a smile, then I watched as she got into her car and drove away.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I went by the ABC store on the way home because if Chris was still there I was going to need to be drunk.

  When I pulled up in the driveway it was weird not seeing him sitting in the window as a cat. Now there was no way to know if he was home until I went inside. I sighed, then grabbed my bottle of Jack to get it over with.

  I didn’t hear the TV or anything else as I walked up the steps and unlocked the door. I expected Chris to be sacked out on the couch, but was relieved that he wasn’t. Relaxing, I went to the fridge to find something to eat for dinner, throwing my keys, phone and brown bag on the counter. That was when I heard him clear his throat.

  I spun around and finally saw the man in a dark suit with a big ass gun pointed at me.

  “Who the fuck are you?” I yelled.

  “I have an official death warrant for you based on the information and belief that you are in fact a vampire, hiding as an illegal supernatural, creating a grave danger to society.”

  I felt like I’d been hit with a load of bricks, or that I was on one of those prank video shows. I looked around but didn’t see anyone else.

  “D.R.A.?” I asked as my heart raced, and he nodded. “You’ve got that speech down pat. How many times have you said it before you killed someone?”

  “Too many times to count,” the man answered with a sigh.

  He was tall, but a couple inches shorter than me, muscular and wide in the shoulders. He looked like he could be in his late forties or early fifties based on his solid white head of hair. His face was blood red and his eyes were narrowed. He looked like he was really fucking pissed at the moment. That would make two of us.

  “I’m Senior Agent Thomas Adams. I believe you know my daughter, Kate.”

  My mouth flew open. Jesus fucking Christ! This was bad. We both knew he couldn’t take me down by himself, and that was what scared me the most about the whole fucked up situation.

  “From your reaction it seems you do know her.”

  “So you’re here to kill me?” I asked.

  “Of course I can’t do that. You’re supposed to be blood tested and verified as a vampire before we can kill you. Unless you put up a fight, that is.”

  “And you think there’s a chance in hell that I’m not going to do that?”

  “Yes, but only a small chance. I’ve been told you care about my daughter. If that’s the case then you’ll willingly turn yourself in without a fight. If not, and you decide to run, Kate will be turned in and executed.”

  Motherfucker.

  “So you’ve always known what she is?” I asked.

  “Yes. Her mother was a witch. We had some fun and she ended up pregnant, so I waited until after Kate was born to do what I had to do.”

  This was so fucked up. How did they find me? Only two people knew what I was and where I lived, and Kate hadn’t told her father. Even Joselin didn’t know where I lived. The only other person that knew was my fucking roommate. I should have killed him when I was beating the shit out of him!

  “So was it Chris? Is he the one who turned me in?” I asked, angry at the fact that the son of a bitch would have me killed just so he could get to Kate.

  “Yes, and I know what he is too. He found my home number and called me yesterday. He threatened to turn Kate and myself in if I didn’t get rid of you,” he answered, his I cracking as he ran his hand over his face, and I finally understood the situation.

  My jaw dropped open again in shock. I really couldn’t believe how low that son of a bitch had sunk in order to get rid of me. I ran my hand through my hair as I paced, more confident now that her dad wasn’t going to just shoot me.

  “Then let me find him and kill him. Problem solved,” I offered.

  “I’d love to do that, but we don’t have that kind of time. He said I only had twenty-four hours and I’m already on number twenty-two.”

  “Then screw him. Call his bluff. He’s a fucking asshole but he wouldn’t actually turn in Kate.” At that, he laughed.

  “That’s what I had convinced myself of about twenty hours ago. Then I did some research in our old files on the bastard, and you’ll never believe what I found.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Guess who turned in his own mother and sister?”

  Well, the afternoon was just full of surprises.

  “That motherfucker. I knew his mom and older sister, Melissa. They were practically saints, so why the hell would he do that to them?”

  “I don’t know the whys of it, but we still have the records, and there’s no doubt about it.”

  “So run.”

  “I’m not willing to risk Kate’s life on the small chance that they won’t ever find us. Besides, she deserves better than running and hiding in fear the rest of her life. And I’m too fucking old.”

  “There’s got to be some other way. Let me go with her. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe-“ I started, and he interrupted me.

  “I’m not going to risk her life for yours! So, I find it really fucking hard to believe that you’d actually give yourself up for her, but let’s hear it. What’s it going to be? Are you going in or not? Because if you’re not then I will do whatever it takes to try and stop you from leaving this house alive.”

  “She’s worth it,” I told him and his eyes widened momentarily in surprise before he exhaled.

  “I don’t have to worry about you ratting her out to any of the guards while you’re in custody, do I?�
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  “I’d never do that to her. If I didn’t give a shit about her I’d kill you and run right now wouldn’t I?” I told him honestly. “But you do know that Chris is getting rid of me because he wants Kate, right?” I asked clenching my jaw as my anger built.

  “That’s not going to happen. I’ll let him think what he wants for now, but eventually we’ll find him and kill him before he realizes what we’re doing. He won’t get anywhere near her.”

  “Good,” I exhaled in relief. It sounded like he had it all figured it. “Then let’s get this over with,” I told him as calmly as I could.

  I felt like there was a volcano inside me on the verge of erupting. I couldn’t kill Kate’s father to get away. She would hate me, and Chris might still out her. If I went willingly with him, the D.R.A. was going to kill me. If he lets me go, Chris says he’ll turn her in before she could run. Wow, those were all awesome choices, but I didn’t have to even think about which one I would choose. I knew her dad wasn’t willing to take the chance Chris was bluffing, and I didn’t blame him after what he’d told me. He was just doing what he could to try and protect her.

  Kate’s dad pulled out his phone and made a call. “We’re ready for transportation at the address I gave you earlier,” he said, then ended it.

  I stood there pacing while the last minutes of my life ticked by. At least I’d had eighty-four years of them, but I wanted more of them with Kate. I wasn’t scared of dying anymore, I just wasn’t ready to leave her. A week was all the time I’d had with her. One week in my long pathetic life I’d met her, fell in love with her, and lost her. Damn, this was depressing the shit out of me.

  “Can I call her?” I asked, already knowing what his answer would be.

  “No,” he said as he walked over and grabbed my phone from the counter. “What’s your passcode?” he asked. I didn’t have to tell him what it was, but why the hell not. I knew what he wanted to look at, and it didn’t really matter how bad it was since he was already going to kill me.

  “1929,” I said with a sigh as I sat down on the bar stool at the counter. I tried to think about the texts we’d sent each other and what he’d see. Luckily it wasn’t really anything explicit at least. I was pretty sure he was reading the one from this morning when his face turned even redder. I couldn’t help but smile, seeing where Kate got her blush from.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind? What were you going to do, convince her to drop out of school and throw away her life for you?”

  “No, of course not. She was going to keep going to school. Shit, I’m not an asshole. But she was going to live with me.”

  “Why, so you could drain her?”

  Of course, because that’s what all vampires trying to hide do, leave a trail of dead people everywhere they go.

  “It’d only take a few minutes to drain her if I’d wanted to hurt her.”

  “So you’ve never touched her blood?” he asked.

  I didn’t answer. I wasn’t going to lie and he was going to think what he wanted anyway.

  “Right, so you were just going to drain her slowly? Is that it? Did you mind fuck her so she thought she wanted to be with you and wouldn’t care if you killed her?” he asked.

  “God no! I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and I never “mind fucked” her. She wanted to be with me. Please just let me call her and talk to her one last time. I won’t say anything about you or any of this shit,” I begged as my chest burned from the thought of never seeing or talking to her again.

  “No.”

  I was starting to go from depressed to angry. “You know I don’t really have to fucking ask you. I could have that phone out of your hand in less than a second.”

  “You’re starting to piss me off,” he said curtly.

  “That makes two of us,” I told him. “Please, for her sake. Are you going to tell her the truth about how you sent me to my death to protect her without giving me a chance to say goodbye? Did you get a chance to tell Liz goodbye?”

  This time his mouth dropped open in shock and it took him a full minute to recover. I knew then that despite what he said, he’d never turned Kate’s mother in. They had loved each other.

  “How the fuck do you know about Elizabeth? I’ve never even told Kate her name.”

  “I knew her. From the restaurant. She worked so damn hard to get into Madison. Is that why you sent Kate there?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he barely spoke the word.

  “I actually saw Liz when she was pregnant,” I said with a smile, as I thought back to nineteen years ago. I hadn’t been sure before, but knew it couldn’t just be a coincidence. After I put all the pieces together I was certain that Liz had to be her mother. “She was beautiful and kind, just like Kate. She was pissed at you for lying to her, but she still loved you anyway.”

  “I don’t fucking believe it. You’re the vampire she knew? And Joselin?” he asked.

  “She told you about us?” I asked, surprised that Liz mentioned us to him, and that he’d remembered Joselin’s name after all these years.

  “Yes, Elizabeth said she saw ... never mind. It doesn’t matter now. Goddamn it,” he finally said in defeat. “I’ll send her one message from your phone but that’s it. We only have another minute or two.”

  I wanted to talk to her and hear her voice, but that would probably only make this even worse.

  “Fine. Tell her,” I searched for the words that, if she found out what happened, she’d know it wasn’t her fault, that I’d had a choice and that she was worth it to me. “Tell her I love her more than anything, and that one week of my life with her was worth more than an eternity without her.” Oh fuck this hurt so much. “Show it to me before you send it,” I told him, letting him know that wasn’t up for debate.

  He sighed as he entered in the words, but luckily didn’t comment. When he was done he brought my phone to me, surprising me when he held it out to for me to take. I read it over and hit send, knowing it wouldn’t take but two seconds to call her, but I didn’t think I could do it. I handed my phone back to him and we sat in silence until a minute later when my phone dinged in his hand. Kate had texted me back.

  He read her message and frowned as he handed it to me. She’d sent back, “I miss you so much. Thank you for forgiving me even though I don’t deserve it. I’ve never been as happy as I am with you, and I can’t wait to start spending every night in your bed with your arms around me. I love you, Sam.”

  I read her message over and over. It was a good thing I was sitting down or I would’ve ended up on the floor from the pain I felt radiating through my entire body.

  This was the last message I was ever going to get from Kate. The reality that I was never going to see her again hit me hard and knocked the air out of me. I wouldn’t have any more nights with her. Or days. I’d been so damn close to having a life with her but now, I’d never hold her in my arms again or hear her say that she loved me.

  When her dad reached and took the phone from my hand I almost jumped up to go to her.

  “Don’t do it,” he said.

  “Do what?” I asked and had to clear my throat.

  “I know what you’re thinking, and this is why I didn’t want you to talk to her. If you leave you might as well kill her yourself.”

  “Fuck!” I screamed as I put my head in my hands. I knew he was right but it didn’t make it any easier. I loved Kate so much. She was everything I’d ever wanted and needed in my life and now …“Fuck! Just kill me now and get it over with!” I yelled at him.

  “I can’t. She’ll never forgive me as it is.”

  “No, she won’t, but at least she’ll be alive. You mind if I have a drink while we wait?” I asked as I reached for the bottle I’d set on the counter. Not that I cared what his response was going to be.

  “By all means, have your last drink, as long as you pour me one too,” he said with a sigh.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Kate

  I was sitting on my
new couch watching TV and staring at the clock waiting for my dad. I couldn’t help but wonder what Sam was doing. I was worried he’d had to deal with Chris being at his house and ended up killing him. I was also worried about what was going on with my dad. He’d been calling to check on me pretty regularly the past three weeks, but coming all the way here so suddenly, something was definitely up.

  Finally, the doorbell rang a little after eight. I took a few deep breaths before I unlocked and opened the door.

  “Hi, daddy,” I said. He looked the same as always – intimidating in his impeccable suit, with his stern red face, and no-nonsense attitude.

  “Kate, get your shit, we’re leaving.”

  “What?” I exclaimed. He was seriously pissed off and I didn’t understand why. He’d never talked to me like that before. Unless? How could he have found out about me and Sam?

  “You heard me. Unless you’re ready to go now?”

  “Why? What is your problem?” I yelled. My neighbors could probably hear me but I didn’t care.

  “You know exactly what the problem is, but it’s been neutralized.”

  Oh no. Fear shot through me. I couldn’t stand up anymore.

  “What problem?” I asked softly. I had to know exactly what he meant.

  He came through the apartment door and slammed it shut.

  “I know you’ve been screwing around with a vampire! What the hell is wrong with you?”

  I sank to the ground and felt like I was going to throw up. “What have you done?” I whispered.

  “It’s done and over, so forget about him. Now, go get your shit and let’s go,” he yelled.

  I didn’t move. I couldn’t as the sobbing started, so violent that it hurt. “No!” I yelled. “Daddy you can’t! Please. He hasn’t done anything wrong!”